The Bronx – O2 Academy 2 Newcastle

If you know me, you’ll know that there’s not much I love more than going to a good concert venue and nodding appreciatively to some well plucked indie folk. However, as there’s a very definite split down my musical personality between indie folk and punk rock, there’s also times where that simply wont do and I need to go somewhere to deafen myself and push other people into mosh pits (hey, it’s either push or be pushed).

Thankfully for my heavier side then, The Bronx were playing the academy, and if there’s one thing you can depend on The Bronx for it’s for a good time mosh pit. There’s just something so likeable about the band beneath all the brutal screaming and razor sharp guitars that makes it them a hard band not to enjoy. It’s the complete lack of genre-based pretension which does it (seriously, how many other singers in hardcore bands could get away with wearing a black shirt and what appears to be a floral neckerchief?) as there’s nothing fake that could be classed as stagecraft and no angst, just some massive tunes and a band who clearly love every second of playing them.

Speaking of tunes, those who weren’t stood right at the barriers (where musical intricacies are lost to the clutches of overpowering noise) were treat to fifteen songs worth of explosive, passionate, ball breaking hardcore including Too Many Devils, Rape Zombie, Ribcage and White Guilt amongst others.

Topping off the show with History’s Stranglers, which still manages to be a stand out song from a back catalogue which is teeming with melody and brutality in equal measure, the Bronx leave with smiles on their faces and a damp, newly deaf crowd at their feet. So deaf in fact that it took until Monday for my hearing to get anywhere near being back to normal.

Now that my hardcore itch has been scratched for while though I think I’m going to listen to The National and Bon Iver for balance.